Russia has again accused the Baltic states of enabling Ukrainian drone attacks on its territory, this time claiming to hold "verified data," the Moscow Times reported. The accusation came right after Ukrainian drones struck Russian port infrastructure on the Baltic coast. It repeats a pattern of evidence-free Russian claims against NATO's eastern members that Western officials and analysts read as escalation groundwork.
"Verified data" that no one has seen
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin claimed that Riga and other capitals of the region open "air corridors" for drones attacking Russia.
"Let us remind you that we have verified data that Latvia and other Baltic republics have already provided their air corridors for Ukrainian drones that attacked our country's civilian infrastructure," he stated to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
He presented no evidence — Russia never does when it levels such accusations.
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The strikes behind the timing
Ukrainian drones hit the St. Petersburg oil terminal, the Vysotsk port, and Kronstadt overnight on 4 July. Several fires broke out at the terminal, which handles 12.5 million tons of petroleum products a year. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's forces struck the port infrastructure with which the Kremlin "earns money for the Russian war." In Kronstadt, he noted, the target was military. The raid extended Ukraine's campaign against Russia's Baltic oil export gateway.
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A recycled accusation
Russia's Defense Ministry made the same charge in May, claiming that a group of six Ukrainian-made Lutyi drones crossed Latvian airspace in an attempted "terrorist attack on civilian infrastructure objects" near St. Petersburg. Riga denied it, and Russia's UN envoy then threatened Latvia with retaliation, drawing condemnation from Washington and Brussels.
Before that, in April, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Maritime Board chief Nikolai Patrushev claimed the Baltic states and Finland lend their airspace to Ukrainian drones. Patrushev asserted this served strikes on Russia's "non-military maritime infrastructure and merchant fleet," naming the Primorsk and Ust-Luga ports in Leningrad Oblast.
Threats as a pattern
The recycled accusations fit a run of consistent Russian threats against the EU and the Baltic states. Institute for the Study of War analysts assessed in May that Moscow was manufacturing pretexts for aggression against the Baltics. Days before the latest claim, Russia shut seven rail crossings on its borders with Latvia, Estonia, and Finland without explanation, after reports it was preparing a "provocation" against the Baltic states or Poland.
